Inspiring environmental inventions
Patents against climate change
Every year, the impact of climate change on our planet is more tangible, making any mitigating or adaptive action increasingly urgent. Innovation is essential to finding solutions that safeguard our planet for future generations. Meet the inventors behind some groundbreaking technologies for mitigating the effects of climate change.
Pia Bergström and team
Converting waste and residues into high-quality renewable solutions
Learn how this team of inventors from the Finnish company Neste helped develop a unique technology that enables a wide variety of wastes and residues to be transformed into premium-quality renewable products, such as fuel.
Albin Chaise and team
A safe and sustainable way to store hydrogen
Find out how this team of scientists combined their expertise and interests to develop a method to store hydrogen more safely and sustainably with less energy.
Richard Turere
Affordable light system to save both livestock and predators
Richard Turere has developed Lion Lights, an automated system to deter lions from attacking livestock in enclosures. Discover how his invention prevents human-wildlife conflict and is helping to boost the lion population in Kenya.
Claude Grison
Decontaminating polluted soils with metal-eating plants
Not only has researcher Claude Grison developed a method of using plants to extract metal elements from polluted soil. These elements can then be used as "ecocatalysts" to make new molecules for the chemical, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries.
Victor Dewulf and Peter Hedley
AI-driven waste management
Victor Dewulf and Peter Hedley have developed an AI-driven waste recognition and sorting system that can be used to quickly and accurately sort waste, ensuring that more of it is recycled.
Donald Sadoway
Liquid metal batteries for storing renewable energy
Chemist Donald Sadoway has developed a liquid metal battery for storing solar and wind energy. Comprised of locally sourced raw materials, his battery provides a cost-effective long-term storage solution.
Fionn Ferreira
Removing microplastics from water
Environmentalist Fionn Ferreira is tackling microplastics pollution with his magnet-based method, which extracts microplastics from water quickly, safely and without harm.
Jaan Leis, Mati Arulepp and Anti Perkson
Superior carbon-based materials for ultracapacitors
This Estonian team of scientists has optimised a material called curved graphene that can be used as an electrode to deliver quick-charging, longer lasting and more powerful ultracapacitors for industry.
Johan Martens, Tom Bosserez and Jan Rongé
Green hydrogen from sunlight and air
Johan Martens, Tom Bosserez and Jan Rongé have invented a solar panel that produces clean hydrogen gas from sunlight and ambient moisture, potentially providing an alternative source of green energy for buildings around the world.
Rafaella de Bona Gonçalves
Biodegradable pads and tampons to combat period poverty
To tackle widespread period poverty, Rafaella de Bona Gonçalves has developed biodegradable sanitary products for disadvantaged groups in her country using readily available harvest waste.
